The Kitchen Table

From Insurance Restoration to Retail: How Jake Huotari Hit Nearly $4M in Year One

Episode Summary

Ken Baden welcomes Jake Huotari, co-owner of Aspire Home Services in Maple Grove, Minnesota. Jake started as a one-man insurance roofer in 2017 and formed the company with his son Josh about three years ago. After a slow storm season and a batch of wasted retail leads, Jake called Ken for guidance in early 2025. Ken put him and Josh on a 90-day game plan built on value-based selling, a structured sales process, scripted canvassing, and daily accountability. The results: just under $4 million in their first year and an estimated $900K month on the schedule. Jake breaks down how retail differs from insurance work, how to hire and train the right reps, and why following the system exactly makes the difference. The conversation closes with why so few Minnesota roofers go after the 70% of roof replacements that aren't insurance-driven.

Episode Notes

EPISODE NOTES

Guest: Jake Huotari, Co-Owner, Aspire Home Services (Maple Grove, MN)
Host: Ken Baden, CEO/Owner of Baden Consulting and Potomac Custom Remodeling

Key takeaways

• Flexibility and a good attitude are core to Jake's leadership philosophy: "Blessed are the flexible, for they will not be bent out of shape."
• Jake and Josh started at Aspire as a small insurance restoration team. After the 90-day program with Ken, they ended 2025 just under $4M.
• Jake says retail runs about a 60% margin after commissions, and that insurance claims can move from about 45% to 75% margin using financing and upgrade tie-downs.
• Retail is a value-based proposition. Your ability to articulate value determines your ability to charge a premium.
• Retail businesses are worth roughly 4 to 5 points more to private equity and investors, according to Ken.
• Starting retail doesn't take a huge budget. Begin with one or two canvassers and add as profit allows.
• Hiring with a personality and temperament profile takes the mystery out of finding reps who will actually close.
• Jake says that when his team deviated from the scripting in July, their close rate dropped from 34% to 18%. It recovered as soon as they went back to it.
• Aspire's team now includes 7 sales reps, 8 canvassers, 2 phone staff, a job site coordinator, and a production specialist, which Jake says is a framework for a $15M business.
• Jake sees insurance carriers squeezing contractors through slow pay and scope disputes. He says fewer than half of last year's roughly 4,000 Minnesota contractors remain.
• About 3 in 10 roof replacements are insurance-driven and 7 in 10 are for other reasons, according to Ken. Very few roofers go after that 70%.
• Jake's advice on what made it work: follow directions, and put in the work.
• Jake's caution: "This is not get rich quick, this is get rich slow."

Mentioned in the episode: Blue Collar Baller event (Dallas, 2023), one-sit close, canvassing, DISC-style hiring profile, CRM and cost-per-lead tracking, financing on insurance claims, private equity interest, NLP-based scripting.

Connect with Jake: https://www.facebook.com/jakehuotari
Connect with Ken: thekitchentablepodcast.net | Badenconsulting.net | DiversifiedRoofer.com | PotomacCustomRemodeling.com